This is a blog to chronicle this portion of the life of Staff Sgt. Jason Ross, my son, as he mends, after an I.E.D. explosion, on March 7, 2011, while serving his country in Afghanistan.

Iwo Gima

Marine Corps Marathon

Saturday, October 22, 2011

October 22, 2011

Jason was resting nicely in his room this morning, when I went over to see him, and he looked to be in a pretty good mood as well as feeling good. It was still early so we just talked about some of the little things that were going on. Typically weekend visits to the PACU are a little later than during the rest of the week, and today was no exception to that rule. They finally did call for him at about 09:30 and the nurses took him down. The good side is that I was able to get over to his room before he was gone, and the not so good side is that he wasn't going to be able to eat until the afternoon sometime.

Sometimes I feel funny eating when I know Jason has not eaten, and today was one of those days. I did grab an orange juice and that carried me through. When I went back over to see him in his room it was about 12:30 and there was a visitor in the room with him. It was a buddy of his from his early days with the Marines, when he was in Dispersing. I could tell that Jason was feeling good and that he had had a good experience in the PACU, so all was good, except that Jason still hadn't eaten. I asked him if he wanted something to eat and he said Bridgette was bringing him some breakfast. I stayed and visited for a few minutes and then said I needed to take off to go get something for myself. When I got back a short while later, Bridgette, the girls and Yvonne were in the room, and all was good. They stayed for a little while then Jackie started to get a bit fussy and Bridgette wanted to put her down for a nap, so she took the girls back to the Fisher House to lay down.

This was actually good because Jason wanted to get out in his chair and go surprise the girls and "visit" them for a change. Jason was able to get in his chair comfortably and in less than an hour after Bridgette and the girls left we were on our way. We walked our way over to the Fisher House and I stepped back while Jason knocked on the door to Bridgette's room. I think it was a pretty good surprise for all of them, though I couldn't see the face of whomever answered the door, because of where I was standing, but I did hear her voice. Jason and I stayed for about an hour or so and then had to get back to his room. We are getting pretty good at the transfer, back and forth from bed to chair and back again, so he was back in his bed pretty quickly.

There were no other visitors today, and it was actually a relatively quite day, the kind we like. The good news is that Jason is coming back from the PACU feeling much better now, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they may stop the daily dressing changes after tomorrow or Monday. Everything looks like it is healing up.

Thank you, for all your continued prayers and support. Jason is getting stronger each and every day, and progress is a wonderful feeling.

It was such an honor to get to see and spend some time with Jason yesterday. Haven't seen him much since he crossed over to EOD and we definitely miss his charismatic attitude. From his first Marine Corps family in the Disbursing community, We all wish him and the family the best of luck in this process and getting back to some normalcy! Stay strong brother, can't wait to see you again!